VirtualBox Encrypted Virtual Machine

As discussed earlier, installing VirtualBox Extension Pack adds some additional functionalities and features to VirtualBox virtual machines. One of those features is the Encrypted virtual machine. This feature allows you to secure a VirtualBox virtual machine by encrypting the entire virtual machine. In this post, we will explain how to encrypt and decrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine.

You can also encrypt a VMware virtual machine if you are using the VMware platform. However, you may need to
adjust some of the steps to encrypt a VMware virtual machine. Whenever someone starts the encrypted virtual machine he/she requires to know the encryption key used at the time of encrypting the virtual machine. The encrypted virtual machine feature works in the same way as does the BitLocker feature in the latest Windows operating systems.

Encrypting VirtualBox Virtual Machine

Before to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine, first, you need to ensure that you have installed the compatible version of VirtualBox Extension Pack. After that, you need to perform the following steps:

Ensure that the virtual machine that you want to encrypt is powered off. Now, open the Settings of the virtual machine and select the Encryption tab under the General tab.

Select the Enable Encryption option, select the Encryption Cipher method, and set the desired encryption key.

Click OK to start the encryption process. The encryption process may take several minutes depending on the size of the virtual machine’s disk image.

Once the virtual machine is encrypted, it will ask to enter encryption key at every start up. Simply type your encryption key and use the virtual machine.

If someone does not know the encryption key, he/she cannot open the encrypted virtual machine.

Disabling VirtualBox Encryption Feature

If you no longer want to encrypt a virtual machine, you can disable this feature. To remove the encryption, uncheck the Enable Encryption check box in the virtual machine’s Settings window.

That’s all you need to do to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine. There are still a lot more to learn for you. Just visit the Getting Started with VirtualBox step by step guide.